Classics seem to have passed me by. For a long time after high school, I refused to read classics, probably because being required to read some of the more terrible books was so distasteful. At the same time, now that the internet makes things so easy to get, these books long out of copyright protection are freely available. In my individual reviews, I’ll link the free Project Gutenberg files.
Now, though, I don’t have to forge through crappiness if I don’t want to. Here’s a few classics, thus, that I think have some elements that make them appealing to pick up.
The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
This is supposed to be a definitively top-notch classic. Originally written in French, this novel has seemed daunting to me in the past due to its sheer mass, but I think I can handle it for now. I’m usually a fan of adventure, and thrillers can be great. From what I can tell, as well, this book looks very complex and filled with enormous plans.
Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
Like almost any good American, I’ve seen the Disney version of this story many times. At the same time, I’ve never read the book that inspired the cartoon phenomenon, and that’s kind of a shame. It’s also astonishingly short, which is something I think I’ll require given the other two monsters I’m reading this month…
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
My partner read this book in high school. My high school didn’t read the usual books, and this one was left out of our reading list. I was going over books I could read, and my spouse said, “Pride and Prejudice? That’s a good book.”
“But it’s romance,” I complained.
“Read it.”
And so I put it on the list.
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Alice in Wonderland is quite fun to read. I have an edition which also has Through the Looking Glass. As they’re both quite short it wouldn’t be a bad idea to read them both.
I think the edition I read was just Alice. I’ll make you wait for the full review, but I will say Disney spoiled me!
May I suggest a few more modern classics?
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
A Light in August – William Faulkner
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
Anything and everything written by Flannery O’Connor
Yes, definitely need to put on my lists. Except maybe Lolita – that sounds creepy.
Lolita was creepy and that was the point. One should read it for the language, it is extraordinary.
Great books, all, H.R.R., I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Haha, thanks – I’ll give you a hint (I rarely read planned books this close to my deadline) that I liked 2 of 3.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a very long book. I got it as an audio book but don’t have 50 hours to invest in it at the moment.
Alice is wonderful. I have about 10 different copies of it. Jane Austen – Yucky! Her female characters are so needy and silly. You should try C.S. Lewis’ books for adults, they are very entertaining and interesting.
I’ll not spoil what I thought of Pride and Prejudice, haha!
I’m so-so with C.S. Lewis’s adult books. Some – like Screwtape Letters – are pretty great, but then there’s Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, and I will never get that time back.
Ok, I haven’t read those two. I have just finished The Great Divorce which is brilliant.
That’s a good one; I do keep calling it “Bus Ride to Heaven” in my head, though, which gets me all confuddled. 😉
I usually like to have my books finished at least a month ahead of the promised time (more for indie books because the friendship cost of that failure is higher). So I’ve read Monte Cristo, and I’d say it isn’t as slow as a lot of books its’ size. I think an audio book would do well – one of the things I had a very hard time with was the French names, and I bet listening to that would make it a little easier to hold together.
Well done on your time management. I am usually a bit last minute about everything because I always over commit.
Ah. I tend to commit to less than I do; I learned from Scotty on Star Trek that you can only do miracles if you convince other people it’s hard first.
Words to live by.
I got me the Monte Cristo book a few months ago
Am holding on to it
For when I’m on a LONG flight to wherever
cheers!
🛫🌄
It is, indeed, a VERY long read! The review comes out tomorrow, though!